Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McKim for the question. We don't agree with the Greens political party's policy on divestment. We have approached the issue around supermarket prices with a focus on using a range of interventions to ensure that consumers, those people who go and do their shopping at the supermarket, have the information they need. If you saw the CHOICE report that was released last week—

It showed that, if you do shop around, you can find savings on your supermarket bills. I think also that Woolworths' and Coles' response to that was interesting because it showed that they were looking at that report and they were responding to that report.

So increased information, transparency and funding CHOICE in order to provide that information to consumers are an important part of our plan. But we also, as you indicated, announced today the mandatory food and grocery code and the response to the Emerson Food and grocery code of conduct review. Our changes will ensure that supermarkets are competitive and that both consumers and producers get a fair deal. Of course, it is, as I said, part of a broader competition reform agenda, which can't be seen in isolation. So we've got the ACCC conducting an inquiry into supermarket prices, we've got the CHOICE report, we're increasing penalties for anticompetitive conduct, we've banned unfair contract terms and we've got some work underway on mergers reform. This is all part of making sure that we are doing what we can to ease Australians' cost-of-living pressures and ensure that they are getting the best outcome for their dollar, including that farmers get a good and fairer deal— (Time expired)